HOGWARTS 1997
by Saeshmea
Summary: Severus finds it hard to act like the unmerciful Death Eater he is supposed to be after his former professor-colleagues (leaded by Minerva) decide to surrender to stay in Hogwarts to protect their students and are made prisoners by him and the Carrows. (Hogwarts during book 7 - MMSS - other professor stories and maybe pairings) The summary is very bad, but the story is good
1. Strangers in the school

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own the characters or situations of this story; obviously, it belongs to Harry Potter, which was created by the magnificent JK Rowling, to whom I will be eternally thankful for opening to me the doors of her wonderful fantasy world.**

**A/N: I know the title is horrible and that I have a lot of not-finished stories, but I promise this one is going to be one of most beautiful plots, though I am pretty sure it's not very original because there are many FF-writers who have make their own version of what happened the summer of 1997 in the school… Here is mine:**

**PS: Excuse my grammar and spelling mistakes, I really try my best, but I will never be as good as a native writer.**

* * *

**HOGWARTS 1997**

.

**Part 1 – Strangers in the school**

**.**

Rolanda Hooch was making her annual check on the old brooms of the school, throwing away those that were broken and repairing the charms on those that were still useful, when she noticed a group of people walking to the castle. She wondered who could be coming to the school at the middle of August, and she reached to the conclusion that it could rather be people from the ministry or the new staff members. Willing to satisfy her curiosity, she put the good brooms back in the shed, and made her way to the castle to check who the visitors were.

* * *

Pomona Sprout was in her way to the greenhouses when she met with Professor Flitwick at the top of the main staircase, who was heading to the owlery to take some feathers for his first classes of September. They were talking about the changes they all would be heading during the new school year when the double wooden door of the entrance opened all of a sudden, and a group of ten, maybe twelve, masked people dressed in black came.

* * *

Poppy Pomfrey was stuffing the cabinets of the hospital wing with the new supplies she had bought the day before in London when a startling noise of broken crystal coming from the hall almost made her fall down from the stool she was standing. She was used to these kind of things happening during the school year with all the kids around, specially the younger ones, but it was still summer, so it was supposed to be quite. She stepped down from the stool, closed the crystal cabinet doors and went to check what was going on outside of the hospital wing.

Minerva McGonagall was sinking in paperwork in her desk when the door of her office opened suddenly and a breathless professor Sprout rushed inside.

"Pomona, are you ok? What's the matter?" the new headmistress of the school asked while standing up to attend her shaken friend.

"There are…" she whispered trying to regain her breathe, "… strangers in the school," she managed to say.

"Strangers?" Minerva repeated confused.

"Death Eaters," the herbology teacher clarified when she regained her voice, "they are in the hall, asking for you."

From the halls of the first floor, Minerva was already able to hear the noises of the spells. When she arrived to the top of the main staircase, a group of three masked men were coming up and she used a wordless spell to pull them down the stairs. From there she could see that about three Death Eaters were lying unconscious on the floor, two Death Eaters were holding the school nurse and another was pointing her neck with his wand, Hooch was literarily wrestling with a big wandless man and Filius was duelling with another.

With a fast movement Minerva disarmed the man who was about to attack Poppy, and the other two released her to attack the woman on the stairs, but she was faster, and the two got stunned and felt on the ground together. As Madam Pomfrey looked for her wand, Minerva helped Filius disarm the man he was duelling with, and when she arrived at the end of the stairs, she helped Rolanda stand up from the ground after having knocked out the big guy.

"That was quite fun," the flying teacher joked while fixing her clothes.

Suddenly, from one of the corners of the room somebody clapped, and they realized there was still one left.

Minerva quickly gained a defensive position with her wand, but the man who was still standing did not seem willing to attack. He raised his hand slowly and carefully removed his mask to reveal his identity. When the terrifying masked touched the ground all the professors remained astonished by what their eyes were seeing.

"Severus," McGonagall spoke, "you shouldn't have come back," she kept her voice strong, severe, loud, but couldn't hide her surprise.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	2. The warning

**HOGWARTS 1997**

**.**

**Part 2 - The warning**

.

"I came to speak to you," he said, "This," he looked down at his unconscious colleagues, "was a misunderstanding."

"Let's get him!" Rolanda exclaimed stepping forwards, but Minerva stopped her, "What are you doing? He has brought them in here!"

"I want to hear what he came to say first," the new headmistress announced.

"Alright, let's hear it," her friend agreed.

"In private, please," Severus asked politely.

"We're not leaving you alone with Minerva!" Flitwick pointed.

"I'll be alright, Filius," Minerva assured, "just make sure they stay in the ground," she pointed at the attackers and then went into the empty Hospital Wing followed by the former potion professor of the school.

* * *

"What is that you want, Severus?" she asked, making a big effort to keep her temper.

"How are you doing, Minerva?" he asked.

"Severus, bringing a dozen Death Eaters into the school grounds is too much trouble only to check on me, so why don't you just tell me what you came to say."

"Because I have just had the worst two months of my life, I had to do something I didn't want to and now I have to hide from my friends, pretend I am someone I stopped being years ago… I am running crazy, Minerva… and you are the only person in this entire hell of a world that I can have a normal conversation with…"

"Do you think my summer is being any better than yours, Severus? I haven't even had a moment to stop and grieve for the death of my best friend, I've had to be strong, and run this school so that in two weeks everything will be back to normal, so that those professors outside this doors, and all the parents who take their children to us, don't lose their hope, their trust in us…" suddenly she sobbed and she broke into tears, "I've had to replace Dumbledore and I haven't even cry his death yet…"

"I'm sorry," Severus muttered approaching her and pulling Minerva into his embrace, "I'm so sorry…" he sobbed.

They stayed like that for a long while, crying on each other's arms, letting go of all that sadness and guild that had been hunting them during the past weeks and that they hadn't been able to take away on their own.

"What is it that you want now, Severus?" Minerva asked after breaking apart their embrace, "What do you need from me?"

"I need you to leave the school by tomorrow at midday," he said.

"What?"

"Of course, I want you to take everybody with you, nobody must be left," he added.

"Severus what are you talking about?" and then she saw it in his eyes, the fear, the worry…

"This wasn't in the plan, Albus had never saw this coming… you were the one meant to replace him… all I had to do was gain the Dark Lord's total trust to help Potter in his mission but…"

"But what, Severus?" she demanded desperate, drying the tears left on her cheeks.

"He wants the school…" he muttered, "the Dark Lord wants to have control of Hogwarts. He thinks Potter will come to start his seventh year and…"

"NO! That's never going to happen!" Minerva yelled taking her hands to her head, dishevelling her tight bun, "I run this school now, so things are going to be my way!" her voice broke and a shy and silent cry could be heard in between words.

"Minerva, the Dark Lord already has control of the Ministry," Severus tried to approach her but she moved away.

"I don't care, I'll fight… I'd defend this castle with my life."

"Minerva you could fight back against a dozen Death Eaters, but you won't be able to stop an entire army."

"You could stop them, you could change Voldemort's mind and make him realize the boy is not that stupid…" Minerva begged and she suddenly let her body fall on an empty bed, tired.

"You know I can't do that…" Severus slowly stepped closer to her and sat next to Minerva on the bed, "He is determined; I already risked it asking him to let me warn you all."

"Severus, please, don't do this," she insisted looking straight into his eyes, "Hogwarts is supposed to be a safety place."

"You'll tell the staff that they all need to be gone by tomorrow morning," he stood up and walked away to avoid looking at her, "the Dark Lord doesn't like warnings, so if there's anyone left tomorrow, I won't be able to help."

"What am I supposed to tell them?!" she asked feeling defeated.

"I don't care, as long as they do as you say," after those words, he left the hospital wing.

.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	3. As she says

**HOGWARTS 1997**

**.**

**Part 3 - As she says**

.

Minerva took a deep breathe before going out of the hospital wing. Outside her colleagues and friends were expecting her to explain what had happened and tell them what to do and she wasn't even sure of what she would say, yet.

"Why did you let him go?" Hooch asked breaking the silence of the hall, "and take his friends with him?"

"Pomona," Minerva ignored Rolanda, "could you please tell everybody to be in the professor's lounge in ten minutes, I'd like to speak to all of you..." she seemed calm, but there was something wrong in her voice that her friends could notice.

"Minerva, are you alright?" Madame Pomfrey wondered after Sprout was gone.

"I'm fine," she lied, "now, why don't you all tell me what happened as we wait for the others..." she said while they began to climb the stairs.

"I was outside when I saw a group of people coming in," Rolanda began to tell, "so I followed them."

"Pomona and I saw them coming in," Filius continued, "they asked for you, they referred to you as "the Dumbledore's replacement". I told Pomona to go find you, that I would watch them, and then Rolanda came in."

"What was I supposed to do? I come into the hall and suddenly find myself surrounded by a dozen Death Eaters, I took out my wand and attacked them. I knocked out one of them and then all took their wands out at the same time pointing at me, but the one in the back asked them not to do anything..."

"Severus," Minerva thought out loud.

"Anyway, I wouldn't just stand there, so I attacked again. I disarmed one, and then it all began," she kept telling with enthusiasm, "I pushed him against the House Points Hourglasses and the Hufflepuff one broke, then I was disarmed, so I defended myself as I could."

"I heart the noise outside," Madame Pomfrey entered the storytelling, "so I left the Hospital Wing and saw Rolanda being punched by a masked man and Flitwick being attacked by four of them, so I tried to help him, but then those two grabbed me from behind, my wand slipped from my fingers and then I felt my neck burning," she stopped, "it was then when you arrived."

"So they did come in peace," Minerva thought out loud, again.

"Minerva, they were Death Eaters!" Hooch exclaimed not believing her friend was actually pointing out that they had started the fight, "They do no good ever..."

"I am not saying they came to do any good, I'm just saying they didn't come to attack us, at least, not today..."

"What did they come for, then?" Filius wondered.

"To warn us," Minerva muttered.

"Warn us about what?" Poppy asked.

"That's what I need to talk to you all about now," Minerva said opening the doors of the professors lounge right when Pomona was coming with the rest of the castle inhabitants.

* * *

…

* * *

The next day, the sun was shining up above the heads of the group of men and women who were heading to the Castle entrance. They were not wearing masks, they weren't even all dressed in black... in fact, they had only one thing in common, a snake on a skull tattooed on their left arm.

They were leaded by a not-very-tall man with pale skin and black hair; Severus Snape was his name. He knew those lands very well. He had been the potions professor of the school until very recently, when he had murdered the former Headmaster of the school. The day that happened he had left this very same Castle thinking he would never be able to come back, but he had, just the day before, to warn his former colleagues of what was about to happen: the Death Eaters were going to take Hogwarts in the Dark Lord's behalf.

So Severus was partly happy that day, because at least, as he opened those doors to let his other colleagues go into the school, he knew for sure that nobody was going to get harmed.

"What the...!" what was his surprise when after opening the giant double doors of the castle he realized all the staff members of the school were standing at the end of the staircase in line, waiting for them.

Many cursing words came to his mind, but there was time to be mad, he had to react before anyone got harmed. This wasn't just one professor trying to be a hero, this was all his former friends and colleagues in line about to get killed in front of his eyes.

"DON'T!" he yelled to the first three Death Eaters who took out their wands to attack, and they put them down. He then walked towards the professors, looking at them in the eye with a mixture of worry, proud and jealous, because he'd rather be next to them about to die for the school, that in the place he actually was. He stopped in front of Minerva and left go a sight knowing this was her idea.

"What is this?" He asked, loud enough so she would hear it, but not the group of men and women standing at the door.

"You said you didn't care what I told them as long as they did as I said," she spoke, "so I explained them what was going to happen, that the school was going to be taken under Voldemort's will," some Death Eater's were alarmed to listen their lord's name pronounced out loud and Severus knew that wasn't a good thing, "and that we were supposed to leave," Minerva kept talking, "but that I was determined to stay..."

"Of course, and they all stupid lambs did the same!" Severus looked at them from the corner of the eye, but none of them, not even Trelawney, moved an inch, "Did you told them the consequences? Did you told them they would be sacrificing in vain for a damn castle?"

"You are not going to kill us," Minerva said trying to sound as convincing as she could, and the Death Eaters laughed.

"How is that?" Severus asked.

"Because you have no idea of how to run this school, so for a starter, you do need me," she said.

"Oh, what a wonderful leader you have, guys, you die, she stays," Severus mocked.

"Do you really want me to believe that these friends of yours," she looked at the group behind Severus, "are qualified enough to teach any subject? Do any of them know anything about the theories of transfiguration? Do any of them know how to teach to cast a spell? Because that's nothing to do with knowing how to cast it yourself... Do any of them know anything about herbology, astronomy... divination?" she smiled, "I'm pretty sure that they will all fight to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, but I am afraid that with a couple volunteers would be more than enough to cover that place..."

A couple men stepped forwards and Minerva tried to keep her temper, not to show any fear. They stood behind Severus and he turned around to them.

"The bitch has point," the taller one said, "we can't make the school look like a circus, nobody would take it seriously, and we do want the boy to come here, right?"

"Yeah, Severus, I have no idea of how to keep a class in place," the other one added, "I would end up killing the first teenager who looks me into the eye..."

"Are you suggesting that we do as she says, that we let them stay?" Severus asked not believing that Minerva had managed to trick them all into doing what she wanted.

"I say we kill them all," a woman spoke coming out from the crowd.

"Alecto, they are right, we have no idea of how to run this fucking place," the man next to her replied.

"Alright, calm down," Severus said, "killing the entire staff of Hogwarts isn't going to be good for us either, so for now they'll stay. I need five volunteers to stay and someone willing to tell the news to our Lord."

"I'll do that," a blond tall man said, "I will be pleased to tell him about your failure, Severus..."

"Thank you, Lucius," Severus said with sarcasm, "Who stays?"

"We stay," the woman named Alecto stepped forwards grabbing the man next to her.

"Great, you and you too," Severus said pointing a short man and another one that didn't look like any real threat, "and..."

"Me," a voice, a familiar voice said from the back and as the crowed let her come forwards Minerva saw it was Bellatrix Lestrange.

As the rest of the Death Eaters left Severus turned around to face the still staff of Hogwarts.

"From this right moment you are prisoners of the Dark Lord," he said, "you won't be allowed to leave the Castle grounds, you will have to obey our orders and if you don't or try any stupid thing, you will have to face the consequences..." he spoke clearly, "Due that I have just spared all your lives, do not expect any kind of mercy." He stopped, took out his wand and made it appear a wooden chest of the size of a shoebox that he handed to man on his right, "you will start by giving your wands to Amycus."

The man went directly to Poppy, who was at the left of the line. She immediately looked at the other side, where Minerva was, and the former Headmistress nodded her head in approval. The nurse took out her wand from her right pocket and placed it in the chest. At that moment Severus understood how things would work and he knew people was going to get harmed.

TO BE CONTINUED...

A/N: Ok, how are you liking it so far? Of course this was only the introduction... I'll wait to people's reactions before updating, though I have the next two chapters already written.


	4. Leaving or staying

**HOGWARTS 1997**

**.**

**Part 4 - Leaving or staying**

**.**

Once the chest of wands was filled, Severus made it disappear.

"When do we get to torture them?" Lestrange asked.

"Yeah, let's at least have some fun!" Alecto exclaimed.

"Nobody is going to torture anyone, Bella. You and Crabe will go outside and replace the protection spells," Severus ordered firmly, "Alecto, Amycus and Goyle, you take our prisoners down to the dungeons, Filch will show you the way and give you the keys," he looked at the caretaker of the school, "any problem, Argos?"

"No, headmaster," the old man, who appeared from nowhere with her cat on his arms said, showing the three Death Eaters the way, as they made the teachers walk in line.

"Not you," Severus grabbed Minerva by her arm and pulled her up the stairs.

"Wait, they won't harm them, will they? Severus?" she asked as they climbed the main staircase, "Severus, please!" she finally yelled once they couldn't be seen and he stopped and let her go.

"Oh, they'll be alright," he said.

"How can you be so sure? Lestrange and that other woman looked very enthusiastic about taking out their wands against us..."

"Oh, so you do really care about them," Severus mocked as they walked down the hall.

"What do you mean by that? Of course I care, they are my friends!" she exclaimed not believing what he had just said.

"If that was true you would have tried harder convincing them to leave," he said, "I risked the trust Lord Voldemort had on me by asking him to let me give you a warning before really coming to take the school, and you ignored me, like always, Minerva," he stopped to look her in the eye before saying his last word, "You have never taken me seriously, you always think you know best."

"That's not true, Severus," she said, "anything of what you just said, it's not true."

"Isn't it?"

"I never asked any of those men and women to stay, on the contrary, I begged them to leave, to go with their families, to forget about this damn old Castle..."

"What happened then? How did they all change their minds?" he asked.

"Well..."

* * *

... * ...

* * *

_"As some of you already know we have just had the visit of an old friend," Minerva explained to the entire room._

_"What is she talking about?" Sinistra asked to Hooch, who was sitting next to her in the couch of the professor lounge._

_"Snape came back," Hooch snapped, "and bringed some of his Death Eater friends to escort him."_

_"Rolanda, please," Minerva warned her like if she was one of the kids, "Severus did come this afternoon," she explained and waited a moment before continue so everybody could react to the news, "but he came to warn us."_

_"Warn us about what?" Slughorn asked worried._

_"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named wants the school," Minerva said, and everybody raised their voices in exclamation, trying to figure why, even saying that maybe Severus was just kidding, "please, please..." she tried to calm them down, "PROFESSORS, PLEASE!" she finally yelled and the room became silent, "thank you."_

_"She's worse than Albus," Vector whispered on Trelawney's ear and the Divination teacher giggled._

_"I couldn't believe it either, but I don't think he was lying," Minerva said trying to keep her temper, "tomorrow at midday Severus will come back with a larger group of Death Eaters to take command of Hogwarts and you can imagine what they'll do to whoever that tries to stop them, so..." she had to stop not to break down into tears._

_"So what, Minerva?" Madame Pomfrey asked._

_"I want you all gone by then," she said almost sobbing, "I suggests you go immediately to your offices and pack all your things," she regained her temper and serenity, "I will arrange tickets for all of you on the first train on the morning and you will receive two months of salary so you can..."_

_"Wait a minute," Flitwick interrupted and everybody turned to him, "you said 'all of us'," he made a gesture to point he was referring to him and the professors around but not the Headmistress, "what about you?"_

_"Don't be silly, Filius, it was only a way of speaking, she's leaving along with us, right, Mina?" Pomona, who was sitting right behind the charms professor, said with a nervous smile on her face._

_"She's not," Hooch realized and pointed out loud, "you are staying!" she exclaimed standing up and looking at her friend with disappointment._

_"I..." Minerva hesitated, "I can't leave," she finally admitted._

_"Then don't ask us to run away as cowards," Hooch replied, "I'll stay and fight with you!"_

_"Yes, me too!" some other professors joined her._

_"No, you don't understand... I am not willing to put a fight, guys. They will be more than us, we would end up dead and they would have the school anyway..."_

_"I don't get it, then..." Hooch sat down again._

_"I want to stay to take care of the children..." she said, "They are Death Eaters, they have no idea of how to run a school... I don't even want to think of the things they'll do to the kids..."_

_"Minerva, don't do this, please..." Madame Pomfrey begged her._

_"I have to, Poppy. I still am the Headmistress of Hogwarts, and I won't run away without at least trying."_

_"Count on me, then," Flitwick suddenly said._

_"Filius, don't you think we should discuss it, first," Sprout said in a mad tone._

_"Pomona, our kids are grown-ups and fighting this damn war on their own, what are we going to do back home?" he said holding the hand of his wife, and then he turned back to Minerva, "I have been the charms teacher of Hogwarts my entire life and if anybody wants to replace me, he'll have to make sure I am well dead."_

_"Filius, you don't..." Minerva muttered._

_"You are right, I don't want my Hufflepuff's harassed by a bunch of Death Eaters," Sprout agreed._

_"No, please... you have to leave, what if they don't care that we surrender... what if they kill us anyway? I don't want to have your deaths in my conscious..."_

_"Oh, come on, Minerva! We are all grown-ups, and we can be as stubborn as you are," Hooch interrupted, "count on me too!"_

_"I guess these Death Eaters won't come with a nurse, will they?" Madame Pomfrey joined them._

_"Poppy, not you, please..." Minerva begged._

_"Too late, sweetheart," she smiled._

_"I undid my luggage just yesterday, I really wouldn't like to do it again..." Slughorn muttered from the nearest chair to Minerva._

_"Horace..." she said with a sigh and a smile that she was trying to hide, she didn't want anything to happen to her friends and colleagues but... she felt braver not staying alone._

* * *

... * ...

* * *

"I knew you wouldn't be able to just leave..." Severus muttered opening the door of Dumbledore's old office for Minerva.

"Then don't be mad at me," she said, turning the lights on.

.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	5. With no words

**HOGWARTS 1997**

**.**

**Part 5 - With no words**

**.**

"Welcome to your office, Headmaster," Minerva said as Severus closed the door behind him.

"Please, I feel bad enough," he replied walking towards the desk, looking around, thinking of the last time he had been there... "It doesn't look any different..." he said.

"It's only been two months, I didn't have the time or the nerve to make any changes, yet," Minerva pointed, "so it's all to you."

"I don't think I can even sit on his chair without-" he couldn't continue.

"Severus, you did what he asked you to do, he was going to die anyway... you can't keep blaming yourself." She looked at him, but Severus put his eyes down and noticed three piles of letters on the table.

"What are these?" he asked to change the way of the conversation.

Minerva walked towards the desk to check what Severus was talking about.

"These are the letters left to be sent for the new students," she said pointing at the first pile, "and these are the letters for the students from the second to the seventh year with the lists of material they'll need to buy," and she pointed to second pile.

"I didn't know Dumbledore himself sent them..."

"Well, he only signed them, I am the one who organized the lists, wrote the letters and sent them... Since I was the only one knowing what had to be done and how, I didn't saw the point on having a deputy head yet."

"What about the third pile?" Severus asked and Minerva put her look down.

"Those are the letters for the new students who won't be eleven until after the first of September, so after your visit yesterday I... decided they can wait one year more before coming to Hogwarts."

"You do are a quick thinker," he pointed, "I'll tell you what," he added, "What about if we leave these for next year as well?" he said looking at the first pile.

"There are twenty-four letters left to send, we can't..."

"We can do whatever we want," Severus said joining the piles, "the less there come, the less there will be to suffer..."

"Thank you," she almost whisper and he showed her some kind of smile.

"Ok, what else there is for me to learn?" he asked and Minerva almost kills him with her look.

"This is not an easy job, Severus..." she said, "Those letters should have been sent yesterday, the list of new students must be checked as the replies from their parents arrive during the following days, the schedules for this year haven't been discussed yet, and I guess you would like to sent owls to the professors who were coming tomorrow to be interviewed for the DADA and the Care of Magical Creatures positions, because your friends will take them, right?"

"Yes, I am afraid so..."

"Let's begin, then... you can go to the owlery while I write the letters to the job candidates that were coming tomorrow," Minerva suggested.

"And leave you here?"

"Unless you think your friends would like me going around the castle on my own the very first day you're here..." she said.

"I missed your sarcasm," he replied taking the letters that had to be sent.

"I'll be waiting for you," she sat down on the desk, not on Dumbledore's chair, but the ones at the opposite side, took a quill, a parchment, and started writing as Severus left the office.

* * *

When she was done with the letters for the professors that would never get to work at Hogwarts, she heard the door opening behind her and she turned around without standing up to greet Severus, but it wasn't him who had entered Dumbledore's office.

"Mr. Malfoy," she said surprise.

"I was looking for Snape," he said.

"He's about to come, please, have a sit," she said and politely stood up.

"Please, professor, do not stand up for me..." the blond man said, approaching her while playing with his walking stick with his hands. Minerva stayed still as the father of Draco Malfoy walked around the chair where she was sitting and sat on the desk face to face with her. "I know you have some kind of plan," he said taking the tip of his stick to Minerva's chin to make her look at him, "that Severus is helping you," Minerva bite her lips not to say a word, not to react to his words, "I can't prove it," he admitted, "but I know it won't work. Severus is too weak, he'll slip off trying to help you at some point and you will all end up tortured to death..." he moved closer, Minerva could feel his cold breath on her face, "but if you help me give him away, I can get you and your friends from the dungeons free before that happens."

Minerva stared at the disgusting man in front of him and since all the words that came to her were too naughty to say them out loud, she stayed silence.

"Open your damn mouth!" he ordered losing his patience. Minerva kept staring at him and finally did a very stupid thing, she split at his face.

Malfoy used his left hand to dry his face and looked at Minerva's saliva on his fingers like if he couldn't believe what the woman in front of him just did. Then, in an impulsive reaction, he slapped her face with his hand stick and left.

* * *

A few minutes later the door opened again. This time it was Severus, who had just encountered Malfoy in the corridor. Lucius had told him the Dark Lord's thoughts about what had happened in the Castle and Severus wanted to discuss it with Minerva, but she seemed to have disappeared.

"Minerva?" he asked walking toward the empty chair where he had left her about an hour ago, and he noticed a stain of blood on the letters she had been writing. "Minerva, where are you?" he asked, this time, in a more worried tone.

"Here," she said from the top of the spiral staircase that went to the Headmaster private rooms, "I'm here, don't worry."

She came down holding a tissue on her right cheek.

"Don't I worry, you say? You're bleeding!" he exclaimed walking towards her and taking the tissue to see her injury. There was a not very deep cut going from her ear to the corner of her lips. "What happened?" he asked.

"Malfoy came asking for you," she explained.

"That bastard," he muttered, "I was just talking to him..."

"Severus, he's suspicious about you," she warned him, "you must be very careful."

"He just don't know how to get rid of me," he said taking out his wand, "Let me heal you."

"No, I'm fine," she walked away before he could insist. "What did he say to you?" she asked sitting near the fireplace.

"Excuse me?"

"Malfoy," she repeated, "you said you were just talking to him..."

"Oh, yes," Severus sat next to her, "he told the Dark Lord about you and the other teachers staying and apparently he thinks it's better this way, that his Death Eaters have better things to do than teaching in Dumbledore's school."

"That's good," she said.

"Well, you will stay prisoners, I mean..."

"I know what you mean," she helped him, "we must follow your orders, not leave the school, not try anything stupid... What else did he say?"

"He said I stay as Headmaster and the Carrows as my deputies to help me keep an eye you all," Severus told her in a worried tone.

"Why are you so worried, they are only two!" Minerva said thinking on how easy it would be for the professors to pass through only two Death Eaters watching eyes.

"Yes, they are only two," Severus said, "but the worst couple who could have stayed."

"Why?"

"Because they are the Dark Lord's torturers," he said.

"Isn't that what all the Death Eaters are?" she asked.

"Not really, all of us have had to tortured people at some point, but they... that's their job, it's what they like to do... They love putting people in pain for no reason..."

"Aren't them in the dungeons with the rest of the professors, now?" she asked.

"You don't need to worry, Goyle is with them and he can't stand to see people being tortured, that's why I sent him with them..."

"Yes, but... Hasn't Malfoy taken Crabbe, Goyle and Lestrange back with him?" Minerva wondered.

"Oh, shit." Severus cursed and they both stood up at the same time and headed to the door.

* * *

When they were about to turn to the dungeons corridor, Severus stopped Minerva and grabbed her arm like if he was bringing her down. After a few steps, they heard to a woman screaming at the end of the long corridor. At that moment, Minerva transfigured into her animagus form so she could ran faster and entered the room through the bars of the old dungeon door small window. Without hesitating, she jumped to the face of Amycus Carrow and scratched him badly until Alecto pulled her against the wall. Then, Severus came in almost unable to breath.

In the middle of the small square dungeon, hanging by her hands on a chain of the ceiling, there was an unconscious Rolanda Hooch. At one corner, Alecto was attending her brother, who had his entire face covered in blood; and at the other corner there was Minerva, standing from the ground, after having hit against the wall.

"I will kill you!" Alecto yelled branding her wand against Minerva, but Severus stopped her, "let go of me, she hurt my brother!"

"I'll take care of her," Severus said, "the Hospital Wing is upstairs, you should take Amycus there and heal that."

"You better take real good care of this bitch, Severus," she threatened.

"I will, now go," Severus followed them to the door, "Filch!" he yelled on the corridor, and Argos came all of a sudden.

"Yes, sir?"

"Take Rolanda back with the others, please," he asked, and he used his wand to gently unchain her and put her down.

Once they were left alone Minerva looked at Severus with a hint of fear, he was upset, very upset.

"That was a very stupid thing to do," he said after a long silence, talking to her like if she was a little child who had misbehaved, "Now, lets go."

"Go where?" she asked from the corner of the room.

"To my office, were Alecto won't look for you..."

"Severus, this is not how this works," Minerva said.

"Pardon me?"

"Lucius is already suspicious, let's not give them any more reasons to lose their trust on you," she said.

"Minerva, let's go," he insisted and he grabbed her wrist but she didn't move.

"Severus, she expect you to punish me for what I did," she said, "and unless you want them to become suspicious too, I suggest you do it..."

"Don't be silly, now come on," he insisted.

"If you can't then give me my wand," she said opening the palm of her hand to him, "I won't let you risk the reputation you've worked on during all these past years, for me."

"I can't let you hurt yourself!" he exclaimed giving her his back so she wouldn't see the fear on his face.

"Then do what you are supposed to do, Severus," she insisted, "You do realize that eventually you will have to show them that you are in charge, right?" she asked, "Because this won't stop me from confronting them again, from not follow a stupid rule or not giving an unfair punishment to a student..." she walked around him to face him and hold his chin to look into his eyes, "And then, Severus, they will want to see that we do fear you, that you are able to discipline your old colleagues when it's necessary..."

"I know," he said in almost a whisper, "that's why I didn't want you to stay," he admitted to her, "I don't want you to see the Death Eater in me..."

"Severus, there is no Death Eater in you," she told him, "not anymore. You only do what is necessary to gain their trust, to survive among them..." she cupped his face between her hands, "I know that you don't want to do these things, but that's what makes you so brave, that's what makes you such a good man."

"But I... I can't, I just can't torture you..." he insisted.

"Tell me story," she suddenly said stepping away and sitting on the the old wooden bench hanging from the wall..

"What?" he asked confused.

"Tell me about the first time you tortured someone, please." She asked and Severus hesitated but she did seem serious.

"I was with a group of older Death Eaters, during the war. I was about twenty. We captured this family from the west of London. The mother was a muggle, the father was a wizard, and they had two sons and a daughter. We only had two of the children, so we tortured them to know where the older brother was hiding. They made me take care of the young boy."

"What did you do to him?" Minerva asked with a very low voice, her eyes were looking at the stone floor of the dungeon, Severus took his hands to his head dischieveling his black hair.

"The boy was very scared, I don't think he was older than seventeen... I made him kneel before me and I stood behind him. I didn't wanted to watch his face. I put my wand on the back of his neck and used a charm that would burn his skin slowly. He cried so loudly that I can still hear him." he stopped, "He kept saying he didn't know where his brother was, so I kicked him on his back, where I had just burned his skin, to make him lie down. I asked the boy which hand he used to write, he said left, so I took his right arm, broke his wrist and dislocated his shoulder. The poor kid kept sobbing and telling me he didn't know where his brother was, that he had left two months ago to fight in the war and had sent them no owls for a week..." he took a dip breath and kept telling the story, "I decided to stop, I dragged him into his cell and told the others he knew nothing."

"What happened to him?" Minerva asked.

"They killed him," he said, "and his family, even the poor seven-year-old girl."

"And his brother?"

"He had died in the war, that's why they hadn't received any letter for him for a week. I tortured him for no reason."

Minerva stood up, walked towards Severus and knelt down before him.

"What are you doing?"

"I want you to tell me the story again," she said, "but this time, with no words."

.

TO BE CONTINUED...

**A/N: I hope you are all enjoying this story so far ^_^****  
**


	6. The dungeons

**HOGWARTS 1997**

**Part 6 - The dungeons**

**.**

"This way," the caretaker of Hogwarts indicated to the trio of Death Eaters who had been commanded to take the professors of the school down to the dungeons.

"What a sneaky traitor," Slughorn whispered to Flitwick at the head of the prisoners line.

"He's just trying to save his ass, Horace," the charms teacher replied, "we can't judge him for that."

"Come on, walk!" Amycus Carrow ordered to the men threatening them with his wand.

* * *

"Where is he taking her?" Madame Pomfrey asked while poking Hooch's shoulder so she would turn around and see the former potions master take Minerva with him upstairs.

"Hey, you!" Rolanda shouted trying to gain their attention in vein.

"What's the matter?"Alecto asked to the two women with the voice of a sargent.

"Nothing," Poppy replied quickly making Rolanda turn around and follow the line of professors going downstairs. "Do you want to get us into trouble, Ro?" she whispered.

"Shut up!" Alecto Carrow yelled and no more words were said until they got to the dungeons long corridor.

* * *

"Here you are," Argus Filch said handing to Goyle a set of old metal keys, "I don't remember which one opens which, but I think I keep a master key somewhere in case you need it."

"Ok, thank you. Now disappear you old squib!" Alecto ordered coming to the front and taking the keys from Goyle's hands. "Let's see..." she said trying the first key. After four or five more tries she managed to open the door of the first dungeon, stepped inside, came out, looked at the professors and ordered: "all the men in!"

At first nobody moved an inch, then she grabbed Slughorn by the back of his neck and pushed him into the small square room.

"Come on, you midget, I don't have the entire day!" she yelled looking at Filius, who turned around to glance at Pomona before going into his prison.

Once they'd closed the wooden door, Pomona glowered at Alecto. The herbology teacher hated when people made fun of her husband's height, so Rolanda, who was very aware of this, quickly walked towards her to calm her down before she upset the Death Eater.

They stopped at the middle of the corridor, about five doors further from the men's dungeon, and their female captor repeated her game with the keys again before she had the door opened.

"Women in!" she ordered, and this time, nobody hesitated.

"Not you," Hooch heard a voice say at the back of her neck as she was grabbed by her hair and pulled away from the line of women.

"Amycus, let her go," the fatter of the three said, "Severus said no torturing and I wouldn't like to upset him."

"She disarmed me and attacked me yesterday," the Carrow brother replied like a child who is being punished.

"You'll have your revenge on another time, not while I'm here."

"Oh, alright..." he desisted, and pulled Rolanda into the dungeon before Alecto closed the door.

* * *

"Oh, Rolanda, for a moment I thought they were going to take you!" the school nurse exclaimed.

"So did I," her friend replied, "I guess that at least now we know who the first to get tortured will be after Minerva."

"Minerva is not being tortured, Severus took her with him."

"Oh, Poppy, you don't think he was taking her upstairs for a cup of tea to catch up on the summer, do you?" the flying teacher pointed.

"Well, no, but..."

"He did seem very mad at her when he saw we had all stayed..." Sinistra pointed out.

"Oh, Aurora, but... he is Severus..." the nurse insisted.

"Yes, the same Severus Snape that Potter saw throwing Dumbledore down the Clock Tower only two months ago," Burbage, the Muggle studies teacher added and everybody remained in silence, except Sprout, who seemed to be having a hard time breathing.

"Pomona, are you alright?" Madame Pomfrey asked.

"Filius is alright, Pomona, that bitch has a big mouth but I don't believe she would do anything to him..." Rolanda tried to comfort her.

"It's not that," Sprout spoke breathing nervously, "It's the room, it's too small."

"It's a dungeon," Rolanda replied with her usual rude tone, "what were you expecting, a master suite?"

"I think that she doesn't like small spaces," Sinistra suggested.

"Stay back," Burbage, the muggle study teacher ordered the rest of the women as she took Sprout to one of the corners of the dungeon, "Pomona, I want you to close your eyes and take deep breathes, can you do it?" the herbology teacher did as she was told, "good, now I want you to visualize a nice place, a nice summer beach, a green field with a blue sky..."

"Ok," Sprout replied with her eyes close and still breathing deeply.

"Good, where are you?"

"In my garden," the professor answered and everybody had to stopped their laughs.

"Alright, now I want you to open your arms," Burbage said as she held Sprout's hands to make sure she didn't reached the stone walls with them, "you see how free you are, how much space you have around?" the professor nodded, "now, you will open your eyes, you won't be in your garden, but you will have your space, and you will keep breathing as peacefully as you were doing now, alright?" the professor nodded again and opened her eyes. She looked around her nervously but her breathe wasn't disturbed.

"Thank you Charity," she said with one of her nice smiles on her face.

"You're welcome, sweetheart."

"Charity, I must admit that was very impressive," Madame Pomfrey said as the rest of the women went back to occupy the rest of space in the room.

"Thanks Poppy, before deciding on Muggle Studies I thought I would do psychology, but I dropped off," she explain.

"I bet that with all these Death Eaters around you wish you could go back and stay in psychology," Hooch said.

"I am not afraid of them, Rolanda. I was captured and tortured by them just some weeks ago, have you forgotten?" Burbage said and everybody remained in silence again. Only that this time was a longer awkward silence that only Pomona dared to break when the tension in the room began to put her nervous again.

"What did they do to you?" she asked, "How did you manage to escape?"

"You don't want to know sweetheart," she answered, and all of a sudden the door was opened and Alecto came in.

"Stand up," he said looking to Hooch, who was sitting on the ground like the rest of the women.

"What if I don't want to," she replied.

"More fun for me," the female Death Eater answered taking out his wand and pointing to Rolanda, who suddenly was dragged out of the room by some magical force.

* * *

For a few seconds the long dark corridor became silence, and the ladies in the seventh dungeon looked at each other wondering what was going to happen. Then they heard a cry of pain coming from the distance and they all knew it was her friend.

After the second scream, Pomona stood up from her corner and walked to the door, grabbing the bars of the small window on it, trying to see something in vain.

"Stop it!" she yelled, and then she felt pulled backwards. It was Burbage trying to calm her down, "Let go of me, Charity, they're going to kill her!" she sobbed, trying to get free from her friend's arms when the door opened all of a sudden.

Argus Filch took a look at the ladies standing behind the door. Then, without saying a word, he came in carrying Rolanda on his back like if she was a heavy sack. He left her on the ground, right on the middle of the room and left.

Poppy quickly crawled towards her friend and checked for her pulse.

"Is she alive?" Trelawney, who had been quite all that time, asked.

"Of course she is," Poppy replied like if she had just been insulted, "she has just passed out because of the pain..." she said as she moved her hands up and down her friends body, using her special magic skills to check on her possible wounds.

"I she ok? What have they done to her?" Pomona asked kneeling next to the school nurse.

"She seems fine, no bones broken..." she said.

"Why would they stop so quick?" Burbage wondered.

"I don't know," Poppy looked up at her, "but I'm glad they've had."

"She's waking up!" Sybill shouted and all the looks turned to Hooch at once.

"What is it?" she muttered with a very weak voice, "Don't you ladies have anything else to do?" she joked and everyone laughed.

"Oh, Rolanda, you scared me!" Pomona said joyfully.

"Sht!" Poppy asked everybody to be quite.

"What's the matter?" Septima asked,

"Don't you hear that?" she said standing to walk closer to the wall of their right.

"Here what?"

"There's someone at the other side," she whispered and some of the ladies approached the wall as well.

They listened to a door closing and Charity walked to the small window of their door to see who was it.

"Did you see anything?" Pomona asked once the steps on the corridor were too far to be heard, "Did you see Filius?"

"No, it was Snape," she said.

"What was Severus doing down here?" Sinistra wondered.

"Minerva," Rolanda said, "she was with him, he must have taken her to the dungeons."

"Do you think so?" Charity asked as she sat back on the ground near Pomona and Rolanda. In fact, everybody returned to their place on the cold stone floor except for Poppy, who stayed next to the wall like if she was looking for something. The rest of the girls observed her examining the wall wondering what exactly she was doing. Suddenly she stopped, knelt down and yelled their friends name repeatedly.

"Minerva? Minerva, are you there? Can you hear me? It's Poppy!"

"Poppy, for Merlin's sake, you'll make us all deaf if you keep shouting like that!" Rolanda screamed too, regaining her strength.

"Shut up, I need her to hear me."

"You don't even know if she is in there..." Hooch replied, "and even if she was..."

"Stop arguing!" a weak voice from the other side of the wall yelled and all the ladies walked towards it at once.

"Minerva?!" they asked.

* * *

Minerva was indeed at the dungeon next door, with her back leaning against the stone wall, just next to a small hole that would let pass only a very thin wand, but big enough to let them hear each other.

She was sweating, shaking, feeling very cold but happy to hear the voices of her friends.

"Are you all ok?" she asked taking her right arm to her left shoulder... she didn't think she would stand the pain any more.

"We all are fine, Minerva," Pomona replied.

"What about Rolanda?" she asked, she needed to know.

The ladies at the other side wondered how did Minerva know that Rolanda had been taken and tortured, and they all looked at the flying teacher together.

"I'm fine, Min, only a little sore... How are you?"

"I..." she hesitated, "I'm fine," she replied almost losing her voice, and then changed her tone. "Poppy, dear," she asked with the clearest voice she could.

"Yes?"

"Could you tell me how to put a dislocated shoulder back in place, please?"

"So she wasn't being tortured, uh?" Rolanda pointed looking at the nurse from the corner of her eye.

"Oh, Minerva, darling, you shouldn't do that on your own!" Pomfrey exclaimed alarmed and ignoring Hooch's comment.

"It's not like I have many options, Pops, so would you mind?" Minerva insisted leaving her manners apart, "... because I feel like I am about to pass out very soon," she added.

"Alright..." at the other side, Poppy breathed hard, put a flock of hair back behind her ear and regained her temper, "are you sitting down?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Good. I need you to relax your arm and tell me if it is displaced to the front or to the back."

"Definitely to the front," Minerva replied.

"Fine, fine. That's good. It means we can do it, ok," the nurse responded trying not to show up her nerves while talking, "Now I want you to bend your elbow in a 90 degree angle without moving your arm... now, use your other hand if you can't."

The girls at the other dungeon heard Minerva groaning and some closed their eyes imagining the poor Minerva in pain at the other side of the wall.

"What now?" she asked.

"You will turn your arm like if you wanted to touch your belly," the nurse breathed hard and waited for Minerva's respond.

"OK," she said.

"This is the hard part, darling, so try to relax and hold the pain... you will slowly turn your arm to the outside, just like you did before, keeping your arms still and pinned to your body, only moving from the elbow below..." she explained, "help yourself with your other hand, and keep pushing until there's a wider angle than 90 degrees between your arm and your chest," she stopped, "if you can't do it right the first time, try again... after you feel the pain is gone, all right?"

Minerva didn't respond, but they did hear her groaning again, and after a moment screaming of pain.

"Minerva? Minerva dear, are you OK? Say something, please..." Poppy begged hoping she hadn't made her friend's pain worse by giving a wrong indication.

"I'm fine," Minerva finally answered to the relief of her friends, "you don't happen to have a trick like this to fix a broken wrist, do you?" she joked, and after that she fainted.

.

TO BE CONTINUED...

**A/N 1: Yes, I know Charity Burbage was killed on the summer of 1997 at the Malfoy Manor in front of Severus but, I made her survive and escape that (I don't know how yet...) and since we all change worst things on our stories, I don't think you will mind, will you? ^_^**

**A/N 2: I am not a nurse or a doctor and know nothing about medicine so if there was something not quite certain on the 'dislocated elbow' scene, I'm sorry... this is fiction.**


	7. The new teachers of the school

**HOGWARTS 1997**

**Part 7 - The new teachers of the school**

.

Very gently, he helped Minerva sit on the stone floor and lean her back against the wall.

"Thank you, Severus." she said with a weak voice while adjusting her sitting position to make it more comfortable for the parts of her body that were in pain. Those were the first words to come out from her lips since she had knelt down in front of him at the other dungeon.

"If you'd just let me put your shoulder back in place," he said, and as an answer he only received a glare from Minerva, so he stopped insisting on lowering her pain and walked to the door, "the girls are at the dungeon next door," he pointed, "I'm sure that if you talk loud enough they'll hear you." After having said that, he stepped outside, closed the door and made his way down the hall. When he passed by the seventh dungeon he noticed a pair of eyes scowling at him, but he ignored them, he just kept walking, with his head down and his mind distracted.

She hadn't screamed, he thought, not a single plea or cry had left her mouth while he punished her body and he wondered if she'd been quite because of her pride or to make his job easier. He couldn't take it away from his mind. The smell of her skin burning, the noise of her bones when being broken, the look on her eyes when he was done...

Her silence seemed to have made a deeper impression on him that the yellings of pain of any of other person he'd tortured before, although that hadn't been the only difference this time; Minerva was also the first of his victims he cared deeply about.

* * *

...*...

* * *

_It was some day at the end of March. He had had an exhausting day: classes with the younger hufflepuffs on the morning, an argument about his tendency to grade the students very low at the professors lounge, a meeting with the Dark Lord and the after report to Dumbledore. He just wanted to pour himself a glass of firewhiskey, sit on his armchair and read a couple chapters of the book he'd received for Christmas on the Secret Santa gift exchange._

_He only had enough time to opened the bottle of his favorite potion when a soft knock on the door made him say a curse word out loud._

_It was past eleven, so unless there was fire somewhere, it could better not be a student. He opened the door rudely, hoping that would shoo away his late visitor, but after realizing who was standing at the other side, he regretted it._

_"Is that how you receive people nowadays?" not other than professor McGonagall said._

_"Good night, Minerva," Severus replied ignoring her comment, "Do you have any idea of what time it is?" he asked, not caring about politeness._

_"I came earlier, but apparently you were gone," she answered, walking passed him to enter the room without invitation._

_"So you decided to wait for me awake," he said with a hint of sarcasm, "how nice of you."_

_"I was watching the corridors and decided to try again," she explained._

_Severus closed the door, this time in a more gentle way than he had opened it, and had a deep breathe before facing professor McGonagall. She was standing in the middle of his office, wearing her night clothes under a long tartan robe, and her hair was tied on a long plate that rested on her right shoulder._

_"What should I thank your visit to?" he asked, walking back to the bar drawer and grabbing that opened bottle again, not caring at all about his company. "Don't tell me it's to talk about my grading method again, 'cause..."_

_"It's not that." she replied, and Severus wasn't sure if that was reassuring or not. "If you're going to drink in the presence of a lady," she pointed out while sitting on his armchair, "at least you could try to be a gentleman and ask her if she'd fancy a glass too."_

_"I am sorry, Minerva, sometimes I forget you are indeed a lady," he replied with the sharpest irony he could, "What would you like to drink?"_

_"Nothing, thank you, I don't drink while working and I have to finish my corridor vigilance," she answered and Severus clenched his punch trying hard not to lose his temper, but he was so exhausted!_

_"Minerva, I don't think you realize how insufferable you can get to be sometimes..." he said._

_"What a coincidence, I usually think the same of you," she responded with a shadow of a smile on her lips as she noticed the Dostoyevsky book on his side table. _

_Severus moved his desk chair closer to the fire with a move of his wand and sat down at what he thought was a safe distance from the Deputy, who was now examining the thick book like if it was some cursed object._

_"Crime and punishment," she said with a tone of voice he couldn't read, "are you enjoying it?"_

_"I am, indeed," he answered and she left the book back where it was and corrected her sitting position, crossing her legs and resting an elbow on the arm of the chair._

_"Severus," this time he could actually notice the seriousness of her tone, "I have come to you because I am concern about the Headmaster's good wealth." she said, and he quickly understood where the conversion was going, "I have noticed you and Albus talking secretly more often than ever, and you do know that usually I have no interest of any kind in your mysterious plots, but this time..."_

_"Minerva, before you go any further," he interrupted her, "let me save you some time by reminding you that I am loyal to Dumbledore and won't tell you anything regarding him without his consent..."_

_"Don't do this," she said, and her voice changed completely, suddenly sounding less powerful, "I know there's something wrong with him, he keeps telling me things about Hogwarts that I'd never heard about and saying it will be good for me to know them once I become the Headmistress of the school..." she explained, "And since I really doubt that he's planning on to retiring to the Mediterranean coast when a war is about to begin, I can only find an explanation for his behaviour..."_

_"Which is it?" Severus asked, curious to know how close she was to the actual truth._

_"His hand," she said, "the one he tries to hide the entire time and barely uses anymore. I've peeked at it a couple times and it looks like if his blood was becoming ink inside his veins," he could see the horror on her eyes, "it is cursed, isn't it? I have asked him but he insists that it's nothing."_

_"Then..." Severus muttered._

_"He's lying!" she yelled suddenly, "Albus had never lied to me..." she added more calmed down and resting her back on the chair._

_"You really care about him, don't you?" Severus asked, maybe with the most kind tone he'd ever used with Minerva._

_"We're good old friends," she said._

_"Then, don't you think he might be lying not to make you suffer?" he asked._

_"Of course he is, but he's just making me more miserable. Please, Severus," she begged suddenly placing her small cold hand on his. It was the very first time she'd touched him, "you know I would never come to you if it wasn't important to me, and I am not asking you to betray Dumbledore, only to convince him that I shouldn't be left on the dark this time."_

* * *

...*...

* * *

Although he really wished to be on his own at that moment, duty was more important, so after leaving the dungeons behind, Severus went into the Hospital Wing, only to find Alecto and Amycus carrow looking through the many cabinets in Madame Pomfrey's office.

"What are you two exactly doing?" he asked.

"Looking for the good drugs," Alecto replied.

"Do stop right now and come here," Severus ordered and they did so, "we're here to run a school, not to amuse ourselves," he said, completely hypnotized by the scratch on Amycus left eye, which went from his forehead to the tip of his nose.

"Did you punish the kitten?" Alecto asked.

"Yes, professor McGonagall was punished for escaping from my vigilance and attacking a Death Eater," Severus said finding it hard not to choke while he was saying it out loud, "now, let's go."

"Where is she? I'd like to say a couple things to that bitch!" Amycus demanded.

"I left her in the dungeons next to the female professors on her own," Severus had to tell, "but we have work to do now so, let's go," he insisted before they suggested to go downstairs again.

"Go where?" they asked together.

"To run this school."

* * *

Severus bringed the Carrows to his new office, took the letters Minerva had been writing just a couple hours ago, and handed them to Alecto while Amycus played around with the several curious things that were on display like if he was a little kid.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" she asked.

"They need to be sent," Severus said, "the owlery is outside the castle."

"Do I look like your secretary?" Alecto pointed upset.

"No, but unless you want to deal with strangers applying for jobs during the entire day of tomorrow, I suggest you obey my orders and show yourself to the owlery, now!"

With no need of more words Alecto did as she was told and left.

"Stop playing around," Severus asked to the Carrow left on his office.

"Sorry," he apologized like a kid who had misbehaved, "what do you need me for?"

"There are two empty positions in the school right now, which one do you fancy more: Defence Against the Dark Arts or Care for Magical Creatures?"

"I don't know..." Amycus hesitated, "maybe we should let Alecto pick."

"Yes, maybe you are right," Severus said, "anyway, she's the one who takes the decisions and you only follow her wishes," he looked at his colleague from the corner of the eye and waited for his response.

"I don't!" Amycus got upset, "I am perfectly capable of deciding for myself, actually, you know what? I'll teach DADA, I am no good around animals of any kind."

"Good," Severus smirked, "then we'll leave Alecto with the beasts."

* * *

...

* * *

After letting the owls fly away with the letters Severus had given to her, Alecto Carrow left the owlery and came back to the castle, but instead of returning to the Headmaster's office she sneaked to the dungeons and walked directly to the eight door.

"Wake up!" she yelled tapping the feet of the unconscious woman lying on the floor with the tip of her pointy shoes, "Come on, kitten!"

Minerva moved on her sleep and, maybe because of the loud voice of the Death Eater, maybe because of the pain her own movement caused on her sore muscles and broken bones, she regained consciousness.

"Stand up!" Alecto ordered when she saw the prisoner opening her eyes.

"If you don't mind," Minerva said, sitting up with difficulty, "I'd rather stay on the ground." She looked up at her captor and enjoyed the little pleasure of seeing Alecto's face at her reply.

"You think you are smart," the Carrow sister said walking deeper into the dungeon and suddenly grabbing Minerva's dishevelled hair, "but you are a very stupid little cat," she whispered on Minerva's ear, "because the angrier you make me, the more pain I'll give to you." With a rude movement she pulled Minerva's hair up, making her stand up, and then stepped back to have a better look of the professor. "Severus was very gentle with you," she approached Minerva again, and the former Deputy of Hogwarts stood still, staring at Alecto with no fear, "I won't be."

.

TO BE CONTINUED...

**A/N: I am really enjoying writing this fanfic, I think it's the first time I am able to go at such a slow rhythm of events (this sounded terrible...), but I like it this way... I am very sorry, and I wanted to apologize one more time, for my spelling and specially grammar mistakes because I know that if my English was any better this would be a good story. So I wanted to say thanks to the people who started following it despite of this, and to MissBeeFarm for leaving the first comments. I don't like begging people to review my stories but, I would appreciate it if more people could tell me what they think so I could know if I am doing things right or wrong and if I should change anything.**

**Anyway, thank you ^_^ **


	8. Between the DE and the School Nurse

**HOGWARTS 1997**

**Part 8 - Between the Death Eater and the School Nurse**

**.**

Severus was explaining to Amycus what his duties as the DADA professor would be when Alecto came in.

"You took your time with those letters," he pointed out trying to sound disappointed, "we're not here to take walks, Alec, so try to be more professional the next time."

"I was professional," the Carrow sister replied approaching to the men on the desk, "I was checking on our prisoners." and she sat down next to her brother, crossing her legs and resting her hands on the table.

"What exactly were you doing downstairs?" Severus asked when he noticed that her colleague's hands were stained with blood.

"Don't worry," Alecto replied realizing what the new Headmaster was staring at, "it's not mine," and she smirked at him. "So, what were you doing?" she asked changing the way of the conversation.

Severus first instinct was to rush out of the office and check on Minerva, his second thought was to take out his wand and curse the witch sitting in front of him, but he knew that none of those reactions would make any good to the current situation, so he stayed in place, effortly kept his temper and replied to Alecto's question with his most calmed tone of voice.

"We were talking about your new duties as professors," he said clenching his fist under the table.

"I didn't know we had already been made professor," she replied.

"You have. Amycus will be the new Defence Against the Dark teacher, and you the will occupy the Care for Magical Creatures vacancy."

"What?!" the witch screamed, "I don't want to be around any filthy beast!"

"I am sorry, Alecto, but it's the only position that was left," Severus replied, showing her the list of subjects and its professors, and getting as much pleasure as he could of his colleague's anger as a previous vengeance in case she had indeed harmed Minerva in any way.

"Let me see that!" she grabbed the parchment from Severus' hand and scanned it, "Here, I want this position," she said leaving the list on the desk and pointing it with her thin finger.

"Muggle studies?" Severus asked unable to hide his confusion. Even her brother didn't understood.

"Yeah, I we must make sure the new generations learn the truth about muggles and not the crap they have been teaching them," she said sounding very serious.

"But there's already a Muggle Studies professor in the school..." he pointed.

"Leave her with beasts," she said, "and if she doesn't like it, then I'll take care of her my way."

Severus knew what that meant and he didn't really want to loose any time arguing with Alecto if Minerva was hurt, so he agreed and made his excuses to leave the office.

* * *

On his way down, Severus reviewed the most recent events of his life... They'd been in Hogwarts for not much more than six hours and they had already done so much harm that he couldn't picture what could be ahead of them.

He asked Filch for the dungeon keys and ran to Minerva's door. He turned the key nervously and opened the door with such rush that it closed again by itself.

"Oh no!" Minerva was tied up by her wrists, hanging from the ceiling, just like they'd found Rolanda a few hours before. Her tartan dress, or at least what was left of it, was on the ground and she was only covered by a tore up camisole. The entire scene looked like if she had been attacked by a giant feline. There was no visible inch of her skin that hadn't been savagely scratched, and drops of her own blood were sliding down her legs and making a small puddle under her feet.

Severus used his wand to take her down and rushed out of the room.

* * *

...

* * *

It was hard to count the time being in a dark dungeon, but Poppy Pomfrey could tell her friend had been quite enough time to make her worry. They had heard her fall on the ground at the other side of the wall that separated their dungeons, so she'd guessed Minerva had passed out after placing her shoulder back in place on her own, which was normal, but not good when being alone.

So when they all suddenly heard her friend cry out in pain, the school nurse couldn't help it but mix a little happiness on her worry... a happiness that didn't last long, because silence had invaded the next door dungeon again.

"Minerva?" she yelled almost without voice, "please, say something, anything!"

"Give up, Poppy, they have already got rid of her, and we are next," Hooch said with a very cold voice and Sprout stood up, walked to her and slapped her face.

"Do not even joke about that," she said with a threatening tone of voice that nobody had ever heard on her, and before she could add any word to that, or Rolanda could respond, the door of their small dungeon opened to show Severus Snape standing at the corridor.

"Poppy," was the only word that came out from his lips. It was an order, it sounded like one, he was demanding her to go with him and she wondered why.

The nurse hesitated, everybody stood quiet, and she stared at their former colleague. There was desperation on his eyes, she could see him panting and his hands trembling. Maybe it was a matter of satisfying her curiosity, maybe a little fear for what could happen if she didn't' obey, but she finally stepped forwards.

"Don't," Rolanda hold her her, and the nurse turned around to look at her.

"Quick," Severus insisted, and she used her hand to get free from her friend's grab and walked towards the door. Severus closed the dungeon again and grabbed her arm to guide her, but instead of taking the way upstairs, they entered into the dungeon next door.

"Oh my goodness!" the mediwitch cried out as she felt herself free and knelt next to her bleeding friend, "Minerva? Minerva, darling, can you hear me?" very gently, she took her hand to Minerva's heart and closed her eyes trying to sense her pulse with her magic.

"Is she... is she ok?" Severus wondered afraid of having to bear the worst news.

"No, she's not" she sobbed, "the beating of her heart is so weak, and she has so many wounds that..." the nurse took her hands to her head, trying to think when all of a sudden she saw a wand pointing at her. First she was afraid that Severus was going to torture her too, but then she realized he was actually offering her his wand by its handle.

"Heal her," he said, "I can't take you upstairs, but I will bring you anything you need."

As much surprised and confused as she was by the situation, Madame Pomfrey knew it wasn't time for questions, so she grabbed the wand, told Severus what to bring her and began to work on the worst wounds.

* * *

...

* * *

Herbs, potions, water, towels, bandages... Severus hoped he wasn't forgetting anything from Poppy's list. He left everything next to the school nurse and knelt at the other side of Minerva.

"What can I do?" he asked, sounding more as a pleading than a simple question.

"Wet the towels and gently clean the blood on her skin," Poppy commanded, "I need to see the wounds clearly."

Severus did as he was told while the mediwitch examined the rest of the stuff he'd bringed.

"Bone growth potion?" she wondered while holding a bottle on her hands, "Thanks for thinking of it, but I don't think she has..."

"Her left wrist is broken," Severus muttered, without stopping his job and not sure that the nursed had heard him, but he noticed Poppy checking his observation by examining that part of Minerva's body.

"How did you know without even touch it?" she asked while pouring some potion on a spoon.

"Because I did it to her," Severus admitted, and silence surrounded them again, a deep and uncomfortable silence only interrupted by Madame Pomfrey's short instructions to her former colleague, who only responded with obedient nods.

"We need to turn her around," she said at some point.

"Alright," Severus moved apart from the still unconscious body and watched how the nurse used his wand to gently elevate it from the ground and turn it around.

Then, while Minerva was floating a few inches from the stone floor and upside down, Poppy grabbed her camisole with both her hands and pulled them in different directions, ripping it off completely. As the fabric touched the floor, she left go a stifled sob.

"Oh my God!" she exclaimed as the burned skin of Minerva's back appeared under the thin fabric of her underclothes. "Who would do this to anyone?" Severus put her look down and she noticed his gesture, "You?" she accusatively questioned, and his silence was enough to answer her.

* * *

...

* * *

Poppy was more and more confused every time, but she was a professional mediwitch and was afraid that if she upsetted Severus he would took her back with the girls and not let her finish healing Minerva, so she kept working without saying anything else.

She bandaged the parts of Minerva's burned skin that wouldn't finish healing with her spells and potions, stitched those cuts that hadn't closed by themselves and fixed her tartan dress so she could cover her again. After all that, she walked to the Death Eater in the room and handed him his wand back.

"Thank you," she said as he took the magic stick hesitatingly.

"She's not awake yet," he pointed out.

"It's because of the potions I gave her," she answered, "but she'll regain consciousness soon," and the nurse stepped to the door, waiting for Severus to open it so they could leave.

"Maybe you should stay," he muttered, making all the medical stuff disappear, "for when she awakes."

"Of course," the nurse obediently replied, and stepped out of the door's way.

"If anything..." Severus began to say while holding the door knob, "nevermind." He left and Poppy listened to the door knocking after him.

She then went back to Minerva, sat next to her, and rested the Deputy's head on her lap so she would be more comfortable. While brushing her friends hair with her fingers she could feel her own nerves calming down. From the small window on top of the wall behind them, she could see the first starts of the night telling them the day was almost over. It had certainly been a very long and exhausting day, but she wasn't sure she wanted it to finish, because if that had only been the beginning, she didn't wanted to know what was coming.

* * *

Tiredness had let Poppy Pomfrey to rest her eyes for a few hours, but hunger had woken her up. After opening her eyes she checked on Minerva, and the transfiguration teacher turned around, and opened her eyes too.

"Pops?" she asked with a weak voice and trying to sit up.

"Slowly, darling," the nurse said helping her friend.

"What happened? Where are the others?"

"They still are in the other dungeon, I guess..." Poppy replied, "Snape took me here to heal you."

"I see," Minerva didn't sound as surprised as the mediwitch expected.

"He helped me clean your wounds," she added, "is there anything you'd like to tell me, Min?"

"I don't think I'm allowed."

"Like if that had ever mattered to you," her friend pointed out, "Come on, Min, he first tortures you and then asks me to heal you; it makes no sense, what's going on?"

"It wasn't his fault," she said.

"Minerva, I can't believe you are defending him! He left you bleeding to death!"

"That wasn't him, it was that Carrow woman who sinked her nails on me," her body shivered at the memory, "if I have my wand the next time I see her, I... auch!" she groaned after clenching her fists and hurting her left wrist.

"I gave you a bone growth potion, the effect will last a few more hours," Poppy warned her, "are you going to tell me that wasn't his fault either?" she asked expecting her friend to lie her.

"No," Minerva caressed her wrist with her other hand, "Severus did broke my wrist, and he dislocated my shoulder too," she confessed, "because I asked him."

"I don't understand..." the nurse muttered confused.

"It's a long story," her friend told her.

"Well, we seem to have plenty of time while being in here," Poppy smiled.

"I don't even know where to start."

"Try the beginning, darling."

.

TO BE CONTINUED...

**A/N: I am very happy to see this story has more followers everyday, but I wouldn't mind some reviews to know what you think about it ;-) **


	9. A letter from the Ministry

**A/N:** If it wasn't because the number of followers has increased every time I come back, I'd think only MissBeeFarm was reading this fic ;-) Whatever your reasons are for not leaving any comments, don't worry, I won't force you, but sometimes** it's nice to read people's opinions (good or bad)**, since it's my only way to know if I'm doing it right, if I should change anything, or what you would like to happen next so I can maybe please you...

Today's update it's nothing special... just a bridge from the introduction to whatever will come now.

Enjoy ^_^

* * *

**HOGWARTS 1997**

**Part 9 - A letter from the Ministry**

.

Severus hadn't slept at all, neither had he eaten a bite since the day before. There had been no way to make the house elves attend his call, so Amycus and Alecto ended up going to Hogsmeade to eat something. Severus had prefered to stay and have some time on his own to clear his mind, to think of what he'd done, what he was going to do and his reasons... and before he couldn't realize how long he'd been wondering his thoughts, the daylight was already coming back in through the large window of Dumbledore's old office, when an owl flew in.

The elegant black bird gave him an envelope with the Ministry's stamp on it. He opened it carefully and unfolded the parchment inside. After reading it a couple times, he decided Minerva should have a look at it too.

* * *

...*...

* * *

_Minerva McGonagall left the Headmaster's office in a rush, with tears on her eyes, and descended the stairs like if she was being chased by some ghost. When she reached the the door she was heading, she opened it rudely and entered the room unannounced._

_"Tell me you have no intentions of doing what he asked you!" she shouted at the former potions master and actual DADA teacher._

_"Minerva the door is still opened," professor Snape pointed, "the children are listening."_

_The transfiguration teacher turned around to see some Slytherin students at the corridor, and with a move of her wand and a wordless spell she closed the door noisily and looked back at her colleague._

_"I see that Dumbledore has finally talked to you," he said, leaving the essays he was checking on the desk and walking towards Minerva._

_"He has become mad!" she said, "What he's talking about is suicide, isn't it? And I can't believe he's such a coward that he has to involve you in it..."_

_"Minerva, you need to calm down," Severus put a hand on her low back and gently drew her to his armchair, "have a sit and we'll talk if you wish to."_

_"I don't want to talk," she said staring directly at his eyes while being only a few inches from him, "I just want you to tell me that you won't do it."_

_"Albus is dying, Minerva," he said it as a matter of fact, "and there's nothing we can do about it."_

_"So you'll do it?" her voice suddenly weaker, "you will kill him," she let her body fell on the armchair like accepting defeat, "the man who gave you a second chance, the man who has been like a father to you for all these years..."_

_"No, Minerva," he knelt in front of her so their eyes would be at the same level, "what I will do is preventing a young boy from doing the worst mistake of his life," and then he saw it, the confusion on her eyes, "You have no idea what I am talking about, do you?" Minerva shook her head while biting her lips and Severus walked away, took his desk chair closer to Minerva and sat down in front of her. "What did Albus exactly tell you?"_

_"It was during our weekly chess game, we usually talk about school matters, but today he told me you'd been talking to him," she explained while nervously playing with her fingers, "he said it was hard to keep a secret around me, but that somehow he hoped I shouldn't have noticed his hand, he said I was right, that it was cursed, and that he was dying." Minerva stopped for a moment, bringing her fingernails to her mouth but not actually beating them, like if it was a habit she'd quit a long time ago, "Then I began to cry and he said me I shouldn't, that everything was fine, that there was always a bright side, and I got mad asking him what the bright side of him dying was and... and then he told me your plan, how you killing him would give you the ultimate trust of Voldemort and I couldn't believe what I was hearing, so I rushed out of his office and came down here."_

* * *

...*...

* * *

"Did you hear that?" Minerva asked after hearing some loud noises.

"It comes from the other side of the wall..." Poppy pointed out standing up and helping her friend walk to the other side of their cell, "It's the girl's dungeon, do you think they're being attacked?" she wondered worried and they tried to hear better.

"It's the truth!" they listened to Hooch yelling, "They'll kill us all!"

"Stop saying that, you are only scaring her more!" Burbage replied to her even louder, and they kept shouting at each other like dog's barking until in a moment of silence Minerva's voice was finally heard.

"Enough!" she said.

"Minerva?" some voices said at the same time at the dungeon next door.

"Minerva, is Poppy with you?" Hooch wondered.

"Yes, I am, Ro," the school nurse replied, "we're both ok. What about you?"

"We're fine," she replied, "It's Pomona, she had a nightmare and woke all of us up."

"That's not true!" Minerva and Poppy heard Sprout yelling and approaching the wall.

"It's alright, Pom," the transfiguration teacher said making her voice sound loudly, "we all are scared," she declared, "and thirsty, and starving..." she added bringing a smile to her friends although she couldn't see them, "but we must all stay together and keep our energy for the trio of Death Eaters who are keeping us prisoners, not to fight against each other," she said, "that goes for you Rolanda."

"What did they do to you?" Hooch asked completely ignoring Minerva, "Why did that bastard need Poppy?"

Minerva looked at her cell companion with complicity before answering.

"I don't know," she lied, "but I'm fine, I swear."

"If you don't want to tell, don't," Sprout talked louder than it was needed to hear her from the other side, "but don't swear in vain, Minerva. It's not like you."

Minerva smiled realizing her friend knew her too well.

"Someone's coming!" Burbage suddenly shouted.

"What?" Minerva and Poppy asked, but before they could be answered, they heard the door of their dungeon being unlocked.

"Who is it?" Poppy wondered as her friend stepped in front of her like a shield, without taking her eyes away from the door.

* * *

He opened it slowly, and the door shrinked. He was more than pleased to see Minerva standing fine in the middle of the room, and he noticed the relief on her eyes when she saw it was him and not one of the Carrows. Suddenly he felt the need to embrace her, to feel the beating of her heart against his chest and the softness of her skin around his neck... but then he glimpsed at the school nurse behind her.

"It's alright, we've had a long talk tonight," she said, reading his mind, "but walls do have ears," she talked in a very low voice and looked at the wall that separated them from the girls.

Saying no words, he made a gesture indicating both of them to come out. They walked to the seventh door and opened it for Poppy, who gave a concern look to her friend before going back inside.

Once they were alone in the corridor, Severus offered his arm to Minerva to help her walk, and after a moment of hesitance, she accepted it.

"What did you exactly told Poppy?" he asked breaking the silence between them.

"Everything she needed to know," she answered, "It wasn't very clever of you asking her for help," she said as they left the dungeons behind and sounding upset. But then she concluded with a honest: "thank you."

"You were dying..." he muttered, "there wasn't another option."

"But now you will have to deal with Alecto," Minerva pointed out when they reached the main staircase, "I don't think she'll be pleased to see I'm alright again."

"Don't worry, I won't let her touch you again," he said confidently and Minerva stopped walking.

"And how exactly are you going to do that?" she asked.

"What?" he turned around to see Minerva with her arms crossed and scowling at him.

"Severus you haven't even been here for an entire day and look at all that has-" but before she could kept going Minerva began to feel dizzy, lost her balance and momentarily fainted. When she came back to herself, Severus was carrying her downstairs again. "Where are we going?" she weakly questioned.

"To the kitchens," he said, "you need to eat and those damn elves seem to be gone."

Minerva closed her eyes again, she was too tired to keep them open, and too comfortable on Severus arms to complain.

* * *

...*...

* * *

_Severus looked at Minerva with concern after she finished telling him about her talk with the Headmaster._

_"Isn't it true? Oh, please, tell me he was messing with me, tell me I got it wrong..." her tearful eyes shined with hope at the light of the fire and Severus felt bad for having to tell her she wasn't._

_"No, Minerva, you understood everything quite right," he said, "you're only missing a part of the story." He breathed hard and decided he didn't care anymore if he was supposed to tell her or not, Minerva was so worried and so confused that she deserved to know the truth, "During the summer, the Dark Lord decided he wanted Dumbledore dead before the war began, so he asked someone who would be close enough to the Headmaster to carry the job: the young Malfoy."_

_Minerva bringed her hand to her mouth in surprise and Severus saw everything being a little more clear on her eyes._

_"He's too young to..." she said._

_"I know, that's why his mother came to me."_

_"Narcissa Malfoy?" she asked confused._

_"Yes," and he knew he should add some background to the name, "When the Dark Lord disappeared Cissy was happy that Draco could grow up away from the death and suffering they'd been around during the war. Despited her political ideas, she knew that wasn't the right place for a baby. So when You-Know-Who came back and she had to return to the Death Eaters along with Lucius, she realized it wouldn't be long until Draco would be asked to join them. Unable stop this without upsetting her husband or their Lord, when she learned the task her son would have to perform, she asked me to help him, because if he failed, the Dark Lord would kill him..." Severus stopped for a moment, "I couldn't say no to her, Minerva, she was just a loving mother trying to protect her son..." his eyes avoided looking at her for a moment, "but she didn't come alone, she was with Bella, and she didn't trust my word."_

_"What did you do?" Minerva asked although she was pretty sure to have reached the right conclusion._

_"We made an unbreakable vow," he finally confessed._

_"Oh, Severus!" sadness filled her eyes and Severus felt her hand squeezing his. It was a good feeling._

_"I don't know what the situation would be if the Headmaster didn't happen to be dying but," he said, "since things went this way, after I told Dumbledore, he came up with the plan." he continued, with his eyes fixed on her hand, "I don't want to do it, Minerva, but..."_

_"There's no other option," she muttered on a whisper._

_"No, there's not."_

* * *

...*...

* * *

Severus made the kitchen door open on its own to let them come in, and all the elves stayed still watching at him helping Minerva sit down on the large bench of the elves' dinner table, and holding her so she wouldn't fall.

"Stop staring you petty creatures!" he yelled very angrily, "If you're all down here why the hell have you been ignoring me?"

"We are here to please the Headmistress and the professors of the school, sir," one of the elves talked nervously.

"Well, your mistress is starving, so take her something to eat unless you want me to blow up the entire kitchen with you all inside," he threatened, "and she's thirsty too."

Before Severus had sat down next to Minerva, a cup of hot tea magically appeared in front of her and Severus helped it to her lips with one hand, his other arm was around her waist, preventing her to fall backwards.

"Drink slowly," he said as she made a few sips, "feeling any better?" he asked and her stomach rumbled.

"I will after I've eaten something," she muttered, and a young elf appeared in front of them, standing on the large wooden table, and making a plate with some vegetables and a couple slices of fish fly to the professor.

"Here you go, Headmistress," she said before disappearing.

Severus helped Minerva eat her first meal in twenty-four hours while elves kept appearing and disappearing around them.

"Thank you," Minerva said as she felt her strength coming back to her muscles.

"I wouldn't have left you all starving if these incompetent bunch of-" his stomach grumbled too and Minerva left go a short but sweet laugh.

"Here you go," she said taking a full fork of vegetables to his mouth. First he hesitated but he ended up opening it and allowing her to feed him. "Thistle," she called as Severus swallowed, and an old lady elf appeared next to her, standing on one of the chairs to be at the level of her eyes, "as you might already know the rest of professors have spent the night in the old dungeons, please take some food and water to them."

"Yes, ma'am." and with a pop, the elf was gone.

"You see," Minerva said feeding some more veggies and fish to Severus, "they are not incompetent," she smirked because he had his mouth full and couldn't reply, "they just find it hurt to change loyalties from day to night."

"Well, they'll eventually have to," he said taking a parchment from his pocket and handing it to Minerva.

"What is it?" she asked sitting with one leg at each side of the bench to face him.

"Read it."

Minerva did so, leaving the plate untouched as she scanned every word on it. The paper was an official notification from the Minister of Magic himself, stating Severus Snape as the new Headmaster of the school of Witchcraft and Wizardry of Hogwarts. Minerva left it back on the table and looked at the man in front of her.

"Congratulations, Headmaster," she said, "you are officially Dumbledore's successor..."

"Technically I'll be replacing you," he pointed out and his words hanged on the air between both of them as he avoided her eyes, "this is not how things should have gone..." he muttered after letting go a sigh.

"Things rarely go as we expect," she took her hand to his chin, and made him look at her. Then Severus took her wrist between his hands, the one he'd damaged the day before, and felt it with the tips of his fingers, like trying to check if her bones were healed already.

"Minerva," he said, still holding her hand, "about yesterday..." he needed to talk about it, to apologize, to clear things out with her, to know how she felt about what had happened...

"What about yesterday?" she asked almost convincing him that she really didn't know what he was talking about, "You mean that story about the boy you had to torture..." she got free from his touch and for a moment he thought he'd upset her bringing it up, "It was painful but endurable. Don't worry about me... I've heard worst stories." she smiled at him and Severus stayed confused, thinking of that last line. Was she implying that she'd been tortured before?

.

TO BE CONTINUED...

**A/N:** I hope you didn't find it long or boring (it's almost 7 pages on Word... definitely the longer chapter I've ever updated). It's taken me about four days to finally decide to upload it and it doesn't convince me yet. I just want to go on with the story and get to more interesting parts.


	10. The room with a view

A/N: I'm sorry, I wanted this update to be something completely different, but it ended up being a Minerva-Severus only chapter... I hope you like it.

.

**HOGWARTS 1997**

**Part 10 - The room with a view**

.

The page of his morning paper turning to show its back, the friction of her quill against the parchment, his deep and slow breaths, her naked toes rhythmically tapping the stone under the table, were the only sounds that disturbed the silence of the Headmaster's office that morning.

Severus carefully lowered the paper and peeped at Minerva, who was sitting at the other side of Dumbledore's old Desk preparing the schedules for the year now that Severus had told her which subjects the Carrow brothers would be teaching.

"What is it?" she asked, without even raising her eyes but somehow noticing she was being watched.

"I just... I feel bad having you do all the work for me," he confessed closing the paper seeing there was no reason to hide anymore.

"I like doing my job, Severus," she said, not letting that conversation disturb her task as she draw a long and perfectly straight line from one side to the other of the parchment.

"I know that," he folded the newspaper and rested it on his lap, "but is there anything I could do to help? I'd like to feel useful, specially when I am supposed to be the Headmaster."

Minerva stopped writing for a moment and finally looked at Severus.

"You could help me with this," she said, "I can't find a way to fit the third year charms class in Filius' schedule, I must have done something wrong."

"Let me see," Severus grabbed his chair and brought it around the table with him to sit next to Minerva.

* * *

...

* * *

_"How is him?" she asked entering the room without knocking the door._

_"If this is going to become a habit I may consider reinforcing the protection spells of my office," Severus said from his desk, raising his head to look at professor McGonagall, who closed the door and turned back to him._

_"I came as soon as I heard what happened," she ignored him completely, "is Malfoy alright?"_

_"Of course he is," he answered._

_"I just can't understand why would Potter do a thing like this," she began to wave her hands nervously on the air as she walked around the room. Severus stood up and followed her until he could grab her arms and stop her._

_"Minerva, this is not about the boys," he looked her into the eyes and tried to sound confident, "what's the matter? Why did you come down here?"_

_"It is driving me crazy," her eyes filled with tears that she held strongly, "every morning I go to the Great Hall hoping to find Albus sitting on his chair because if he's not it means it has already happened, and..." her words choke on her throat, she was about to cry, and Severus decided to interrupt her before she did._

_"Minerva, I don't know when it's going to happen, but you can't become obsessed with it."_

_"How do you do it, Severus? How do you cope with the fact that your friend will die any time soon, and probably on your hands?" her tone was dry but there was feeling on her eyes, which finally gave up and let her tears go down._

_"I don't," he answered as he handed her a handkerchief to dry her tears. As she took it, their hands brushed each other's and a strangely cozy silence surrounded them._

* * *

...

* * *

One of the old clocks in the Headmaster's office suddenly struck twelve and Minerva startled herself.

"Oh my goodness!" she said, "time really goes by quick. It's midday."

"You're right, what if we take a break?," Severus proposed, "I haven't seen my new quarters, yet."

"Sure, I guess we could go upstairs for a while," she said, already standing up, "I have always wondered what the Headmaster's private rooms look like."

"You mean you've never been there yet? Not even during the Summer?"

"I avoided coming here unless it was necessary," she explained as she began to climb the spiral stairs with her naked feet.

"Where are your shoes?" he asked to change the way of the conversation. He had already noticed she wasn't wearing them earlier, but he had just guessed that she'd lost them while Alecto was torturing here, so he hadn't wanted to ask, until now.

"I don't know," she answered as they reached the door of Dumbledore's old rooms, and she opened it.

"Oh my..." Minerva gasped, reaching for Severus' hand to hold as they stepped into a cozy living room that could perfectly be part of a nice city apartment. What had made Minerva gasp, was Dumbledore's cloak hanging next to the entrance door, still smelling of lemon drops.

"Maybe this wasn't a good idea," Severus said.

"No, it's ok," she replied making her way to the other door in the room, still holding his hand.

The door brought them to a small corridor with three doors. They entered the first. It was a nice bedroom with no many furniture or decor, which made Minerva think it was a guest room.

Still not letting go of Severus, she walked to the window and looked at the sigh. She could see the lake from there.

"It's beautiful," she said.

"It really is," Severus whispered, standing behind her, passing her arms around her waist and holding her close to his body.

* * *

...

* * *

_She freezed at his touch and Severus guided her hand to her cheeks with his, and they both dried her tears with the handkerchief. When his fingers brushed her chin she instinctively closed her eyes and slowly put down her hand as Severus took his behind her neck. His touch was nice, soft, warm... confident. She didn't want to analyze the situation, there was no need to know if that was right or wrong._

_When she opened her eyes, he was leaning against her, with his head slightly at one side, eyes closed and slowly approaching her lips. She decided to go ahead, she stood on her tiptoes and moved forwards, making their lips clash and entangle on a passionate kiss._

* * *

...

* * *

"Severus," Minerva called his name without taking her eyes off the view.

"Yes?"

"I missed you," she said for the first time since they'd seen each other again.

"I missed you, too."

.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	11. Her tortured skin and his suspicious fri

A/N: I'm sorry that I've left this story aside for 'Umbrdige's Cat Trap' and 'Who is Isobel O'Flaherty?'... I just can't never focus on only one story... but I'm back to this plot and I have plenty of ideas.

This is a very soft but sweet episode that I hope you'll like ^.^

Enjoy!

* * *

**Hogwarts 1997**

**.**

**Part 11**

**Her tortured skin and his suspicious friends**

**.**

Amycus took his hand to his left eye like if the afternoon sun was making his wound sore.

"I would have loved to watch you torture that damn bitch," he said to his sister while they were walking back to the Castle from Hogsmeade.

"You would have enjoyed it, dear," Alecto said turning around and walking backwards to look at her brother in the eye as she spoke, "I scratched her entire body with my bare nails as she screamed of pain, I watched her bleed until she passed out and then I grabbed her shoes as a prize," she said raising one of her foot so her brother could see her new black heels, "Aren't they lovely?"

"I'll never understand this obsession of yours," her brother replied, "but they do look very nice on you," he smiled and her sister returned to his side and took his arm as they continued their path. "Do you think we could pay a visit to her before telling Severus we're back?" he suggested, "I want to see how brave she feels today."

"Sure!" Alecto agreed with the enthusiasm a kid would show to an afternoon in the park, "Let's show that kitten how good we are when we work together."

* * *

.

* * *

He couldn't take his eyes away from her tortured body, and with the fingers of his right hand, he gently brushed the sharp lines Alecto had drawn from her cute little navel to the back of her waist, right where her skin had been burned. That had been his doing, and even though he'd been kinder with her than he'd been with the boy of his story, and that Poppy had been very generous applying that skin-regenerating unguent on her, it still look very bad.

His fingers continued their soothing journey up her column, softly tickling her abused skin and stopping at the back of her neck to remove her disheveled hair so his lips could leave there a sweet tender kiss.

Her body moved slowly and aching over the sheets of the stranger bed, turning around so she could be face to face to her companion. Then they looked at each other for an instant that lasted almost an entire minute of a silence only broken by the measured rhythms of their breathings.

There was then one of those moments when two people begin to speak at the same time and stop, laughing at the silly coincidence.

"You first," Minerva said.

"No, please, you go first," he insisted, but their disagreement was interrupted by a third voice yelling from outside the Headmaster's private rooms.

"SEVERUS! SEVERUS!"

"It's Alecto," he realized, and he quickly sat at the edge of the bed, showing his full nudity, and grabbed his shirt from the ground, "stay here, I'll go see what she wants."

Minerva said nothing, just watched him put his clothes on and magically fix them as he rushed out of the bedroom leaving her alone.

* * *

"What's the matter?" Severus rudely demanded as he stepped into his office, to the woman that was already climbing the staircase.

"She's gone!" she exclaimed.

"Who's gone? What are you talking about?"

"The bitch who attacked Amycus, we went to the dungeons and she's not there," she exclaimed.

"Of course she isn't, you silly woman, she's with me," he said, and Alecto looked around, "she's upstairs, resting."

"Resting?" she wondered, "prisoners don't rest."

"They do after having been savagely tortured almost to death," Severus pointed out, "I don't think you realize how much we need her to run this damn school, Alecto."

"She is only a prisoner," the Death Eater lady insisted, "the Dark Lord always lets us do whatever we want with our prisoners."

"I know, but he has put me in charge, not you, and if I say that you are not allowed to torture anyone for fun, you don't."

"It wasn't for fun, she attacked my brother so I wanted my revenge," Alecto clarified.

"I had already punished her for that, remember?"

"Yes, but you had been too kind. Maybe the problem is that you care for these people, maybe you've been around them for too long..."

Her words hanged in the air for a moment, and Severus stepped forwards and angrily grabbed her neck and raised her from the ground.

"My loyalty only goes to the Dark Lord and the only thing I care about is pleasing his orders," he said, "I won't allow anyone doubting that," he watched her suffocating for a while and then released her.

The woman felt to the stone floor like a puppet without strings and caressed her sore neck as the air filled her lungs again.

"I'm sorry," she said from the ground, "I just can't understand what is that bitch doing in your quarters."

"I'm sure you can," Severus said putting a grin in his lips, "your brother has taken many prisoners to his room in the Malfoy's manor in the past."

"Oh," Alecto changed the expression of her face and her tone of voice completely, "If I had known you had those kind of needs," she said as she stood up, "I could have helped you, Severus," she placed a finger on his chest and made it go down her bust very slowly, "you know, I can be very pleasant in bed, and you would much more fun with me than with the kitten."

Severus opened his eyes wildly and stepped back. Obviously, he had never predicted that reaction from her; if he had, he would have saved the situation in another way.

"I'll keep that in mind," he said, "Now, if you don't mind, I have work to do and a prisoner to take back to her dungeons."

"Of course," she began to walk towards the door, "don't be too gentle with her, kittens like it rough."

* * *

When he opened the door of his private quarters, Severus found Minerva on the couch in the sitting room, already dressed with her tartan gown and waiting for him.

"Is everything alright?" she wondered.

"She thought you were gone," he explained to her as he sat down on the armchair, "I told her you were here and we had a little disagreement about her manners with prisoners."

"Are we in trouble?" she asked.

"No, of course not," Severus said.

"I don't believe you, what did she exactly say?" Minerva asked.

"She suggested I am being soft, that I am not treating you all like I would to any other prisoner of the Dark Lord..." he said, "but she won't dare saying that again."

"I told you this would happen," Minerva suddenly raised her voice standing up from the couch, "first it was Malfoy and now the Carrows," she said, "if you're not more careful they'll realize where your real loyalty lies and..." Minerva felt her eyes filling with tears and she had to stop and calm herself down before continue, "I should have listened to you, we should have left when you told us. All I've done so far by staying is making things more complicated."

"Are we still talking about Alecto or are we talking about us, now?" Severus asked, holding her hand and pulling Minerva towards him, making her sit on his lap.

She looked at him in the eyes and passed her arms around his neck, holding herself tightly so she wouldn't fall backwards.

"I don't think this is the best moment to start anything," she said.

"Nothing was started today, Minerva," he replied, raising his hand to gently dry a tear that had escaped her eyes, "this thing between us, whatever it is, began some time ago.

.

TO BE CONTINUED...

.

**A/N:** I stopped here because I thought it was a very nice moment and I didn't want to spoil it by trying to make the update a little longer, so, if you think this was short or that it wasn't a very interesting chapter, I'm VERY SORRY... but it was something necessary.

**Coming up on the next update/s:** a couple more flashbacks about how it all started between MM/SS and their last encounter before the summer, the professors will finally be freed from the dungeons, and then a little jump to go straight to September 1st! I also want the students to come to the Castle and the classes to start... ^.^


	12. The goodbye kiss

**A/N:** I'm sorry for those who have been expecting my updates. I thought I would have much more free time this summer but the truth is that between my summer job and the extra classes I teach I don't. That and a few weeks of author's block is a very bad combination. But at last, I've forced myself to send something, just so you know I'm alive (I hope to update my other stories as well) and, even thought I wasn't at my best in inspiration, I think this is not a bad chapter.

I hope you enjoy it, don't be too cruel on my spelling or grammar and please, leave a review and let me know what you think (good or bad) that always encourages me to write more ^_^

NOTE: just so there are no confusions, the story begins and ends with a flashback and the middle part is 1997 a few days after where I left it on the previous part, which I don't remember the number.

And since I am just rambling and it's almost 2am and in 6hours I should be at work, I amb going to leave it here.

Good night and ENJOY ^_^

* * *

**HOGWARTS 1997**

**.**

**The goodbye kiss**

**.**

_It was late, the school halls were empty, and the only noise that could be heard was the clack-clack of her boots heels walking down the corridor and suddenly stopping at the next corner._

_It was the dark shadow approaching her that made her cease her steps. She would recognize that silhouette anywhere._

_"Good night," she said, once he was close enough to hear her, "I thought you were avoiding me?"_

_"And why exactly would you think that, my dear Minerva?" he asked._

_"Because I've tried reaching you the entire day and it has been impossible," she answered._

_"Maybe you looked for me in the wrong places," he pointed out, offering her arm to her so they would walk together._

_"No, I'm completely sure," she insisted, taking his arm "I went to the dungeons after your last class, and I know you noticed me, but you headed the other way."_

_"I'm so sorry," he apologized, "I swear I didn't see you."_

_"You are a good liar, Severus, but you know you can't fool me," she said, "now, please, tell me what's wrong? I thought we were in a good place."_

_"Wherever that place is," he added with a mocking tone that she despised._

_"Seriously, what's the matter? Did I do anything to upset you?"_

_"No, of course you didn't," he said, "I have actually been avoiding you but, it's not…"_

_"It's not what, Severus?" she impatiently asked, "We agreed this is not the right time to begin a relationship, especially between us."_

_"I know, and it's not this what has been bothering me, it's…" he noticed her eyes staring at him, expecting a honest answer, but he didn't want to worry her, "it's late, you should go with your students and check that everybody is in their common room."_

_"Wow, that's a quick change of theme…" she said as she stopped walking, "What's going on?" she asked, even more curious now than at the beginning of their nocturne encounter._

_"Nothing, but I should continue with the corridor vigilance and you should go to your rooms," he said, trying to avoid her stare, knowing she could read his lies through his eyes, "It's really getting late," he added._

_"Oh Merlin!" she exclaimed, "it's tonight," she realized, "they are coming to the school to do it tonight," he could sense how much she feared those words to be true by the tone of her voice._

_"Calm down," he said, "I have a plan. Nothing is going to happen tonight," he reassured, "Dumbledore is not in the school."_

_"I don't understand," she muttered._

_"You asked me to do something, that's what I'm trying," he explained, "A group of Death Eaters is coming to help Malfoy achieve his mission, they think they'll find Dumbledore in his office but, he's gone with Potter."_

_"And you think that's going to stop them?" she questioned, "Severus they'll just get mad and try another time, even worst, they'll might get mad at you for fooling them."_

_"I'll tell them I didn't know, they'll believe whatever I say," he raised a hand to caress her cheek as he spoke; he didn't like to see her so sad, "you don't need to worry."_

_"But I do worry," she said, resting a hand on his chest, feeling the beating of his heart through their touch, "I don't want Albus to die, but I don't want you to put yourself in danger either," she concluded as her eyes became tearful._

_"Oh, Minerva," he said, drying the first tears of her eyes with his finger, "I'll be alright, I promise," he moved closer, bending over to approach her sweet lips, but she stopped him and broke them apart, "I'm sorry, I thought" he apologized thinking he had offended her somehow._

_"I don't want your kiss," she said, sounding upset and showing him her back, "not here, not now," she sobbed, "because it would feel like a goodbye."_

_"In that case," he stepped towards her back and put her hands on her shoulder, "see you later, my dear," he whispered, before leaving a kiss on the nape of her neck and leaving away._

* * *

…

* * *

"Out," Alecto Carrow ordered with her wand in her hand, "come on!"

One by one, the female members of the Hogwarts staff abandoned the small dungeon where they'd spent the last few days and followed the two brother and sister up to the hall.

"What now?" Sprout wondered as they climbed the stairs.

"They'll probably kill us like they've done with Minerva," Hooch replied, receiving a slap on her nape from Poppy.

"Minerva is not dead," the nurse said, "so stop saying that."

"We haven't seen her for more than two days," the flying teacher pointed out, "if she's not dead, tell me where she is."

"Right there," Pomona answered.

"What?" Hooch asked turning around to her friend.

"Minerva is right there," the herbology professor repeated, pointing to the bottom of the main stairs, where Minerva was standing next to the Headmaster, staring at her short friend with some kind of concern on her look.

"Shut up!" yelled Amycus as the women got excited after seeing their friend was apparently alright, "Keep your mouths shut if you don't want to be punished," he added, roughly pushing both Poppy and Pomona, so they would be on the line the other professors were standing.

"Ladies," Snape politely greeted all of them, "let me apologize for the manners of my colleagues, they are used to treat with less cooperating prisoners, but I have already told them that ruthness is not easily tolerated in this school," he stopped and took a deep breathe before continue, "So, you might be wondering why you are up here," he said, "Minerva, please," and he turned around and looked at the old school Deputy Headmistress, who stepped forwards after listening to her name and looked at her friends.

"You are here, because of me," she spoke, "I talked you into staying and I made you become servants of the Dark Lord," she seemed to be reciting some prepared speech and none of the girls dared to interrupt, realizing that she was just saying what she'd been told to, "There's no going back, so rather if we like the situation or not, we will obey every rule and command, and we will please and serve willingly our captors or any other Death Eater."

"Or?" Severus interrupted her speech.

"There'll be severe consequences for those who disobey any rules or try to offer resistance to our captors will," she answered as if she had memorized it, "leaving the Castle grounds is absolutely forbidden and I, as the responsible for your fate, (and not the person who tried to escape) will be punished for every attempt."

"Show them," Severus ordered her on a daring tone of voice, and seeing her hesitance, he grabbed her arm, turned her around, moving her like a puppet, and unzipped the back of her dress. The professors didn't understand their struggling until they saw Minerva's naked back. Her skin had been ripped open in several places in such a savage way that it was hard to tell if it had been the work of some macabre spell or the job of a cruel hand with a whip.

Sprout and some other professors gasped at the scene in front of them, Madame Pomfrey, who was watching with a pair of expert eyes, noticed that they were recent wounds, cleaned but certainly not treated in any way because some were still bleeding.

"Now that we have established the rules and consequences of our cohabitation in the castle," Severus said while giving Minerva a moment to fix her dress, "are there any question?" he asked.

Obviously, there were a lot of questions, but nobody dared to ask them, especially not after seeing what they'd seen. The women remained silent, and the Headmaster smirked.

"That's what I thought," he muttered, "anyway, professor McGonagall here will be able to tell you much more," he said, grabbing her again and pushing her against the other professors, with such careless that if it hadn't been for Rolanda's quick reflex, she would had felt flat on the steps of the staircase. "Now," Severus added, "you are free to go back into your respecting rooms, or anywhere in the castle, a side from the dungeons and mine and professors Alecto and Amycus Carrow offices."

* * *

…

* * *

_"Severus!" he listened to his name being called in the night and he ignored it, "Severus!", the name was echoed by the same voice again, but he kept walking fast, "LIAR!", she shouted this time, and he stopped, and waited for her to catch his steps without turning around._

_"Go back to the castle, Minerva," he ordered in a begging tone of voice, still not looking at her, "if they see you…"_

_"Don't be a coward and face me, Severus," she spoke resoundingly._

_"Minerva, I…" he muttered._

_"You lied to me several times tonight," she said, not letting him talk, "you said nothing was going to happen and now, Albus is dead," she was so angry that she wasn't even able to cry._

_"He wasn't supposed to come so soon," he said, "if I'd known," that was probably the first time anyone had heard Severus mumbling, "he begged me," the memory of the moment seemed to hurt him, "I had to…"_

_"I don't even want to hear," Minerva announced, closing her eyes, trying to put the image of Dumbledore's body lying on the ground away from her mind._

_"Then what are you doing here?" he asked, "Why did you follow me?" they were so close to each other, at this point, that he had to look down at her, and she had to raise her head to look at him._

_"Because I was waiting for you to come back," the words came out of her mouth like a sight, as if they were the last breathe she had to offer, and then a silence surrounded them for a moment._

_"I'm sorry," he said._

_"Your apologies are beginning to mean nothing to me," she replied._

_"This is what I must do, Minerva," he said._

_"I am tired of this argument. You must do nothing, don't you have a mind of your own? Aren't you tired of doing what you are told?" she questioned, "Please, Severus, stay. Don't leave, not now."_

_"If I don't, everything will have been in vain," he answered, " I must go."_

_"If you do, then I don't want you to come back," she warned him._

_"I won't," he said, "but if this is going to be a real goodbye, then you owe me a kiss," he finished, and suddenly, he held her wrist tightly and pulled her closer, stealing a kiss from her lips that she willingly returned._

.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	13. Bittersweet freedom

**A/N:** I'm back! For real, I finally have time to write again, and my inspiration is definitely back, so I'm going to be updating a lot during the next two weeks before university starts and then... well, we'll see ^.^

I wanted to make this longer, but I couldn't wait anymore to post something. I hope you enjoy it anyway :-)

ENJOY ^_^

* * *

**Hogwarts 1997**  
**.**  
**Part 13**  
**.**  
**Bittersweet freedom**  
**.**

Nobody said a word while they climbed up the main staircase, still watched by their captors, and following the steps of a limping Minerva that had to hold herself on Hooch's arm to keep her balance as she walked.

"What did you do to piss them off this time?" Rolanda asked Minerva as they reached the second floor, still followed by the rest of professors.

"Nothing," she said, and she suddenly stopped and broke apart from her friend, "do you still remember my password?" she questioned.

"Yes, I think so."

"Good," Minerva then turned around to the group of women and talked, "I know you all have a lot of questions, doubts and fears you want to discuss with me, and I am sure you would all like to go to your own bedrooms tonight," she added, "but I'd like it if we could stay together and talk calmly." She took a moment to balance herself again, and continued, "Rolanda will walk all of you to the Gryffindor tower, were a house elf is waiting to bring you anything you need. Take a shower, have something to eat, make yourselves comfortable… I'll be back soon."

"Back from where?" Rolanda asked.

"Poppy, Pomona, I'll need you to come with me," Minerva said, ignoring her other friend.

"Why not me? What's the matter?" Hooch reacted like a child.

"Not now, Ro," Minerva sounded like an adult talking to a little kid, "I really need you to do as I said."

"Alright," she replied, a little upset, but heading to the seventh floor with the rest of their colleagues except for the school nurse and the herbology teacher, who stayed behind with Minerva.

...

"Where are we going?" Poppy asked, offering her friend a hand.

"Thanks," Minerva said taking her friend's arm, "we're going for a walk," she lied, "now, let's go," she indicated the way and the three women began to walk, side by side.

"It's nice to see you're fine, Minerva," Pomona said, "we were all really worried for you."

"Well, she's certainly not that fine when she can't barely walk on her own," Poppy pointed out, "and those injuries on your back didn't look good to me."

"Thanks for the diagnosis, doctor," Minerva joked, "but it's not me who needs your services right now," before Poppy nor Pomona could reply to those words, they reached the Headmaster's office and Minerva said the password to go in.

"Minera," Sprout called her name stopping her friend, "didn't Severus say we weren't allowed in here?"

"He did," was all Minerva said. Then she opened the door and invited them in. Hesitatingly, both women stepped into the apparently dark office and followed Minerva up to the Headmaster's private rooms.

"Minerva, what are we doing in here?" Poppy asked, more seriously this time, as they entered the small apartment.

"You'll see," she said, closing the door after them. They went into the small corridor behind the other door of the room, and Minerva stopped at the second door which she held opened for her friends to go inside.  
Pomona walked in first, and as soon as she lied a foot in the room, she gasped and let go a cry, and then ran towards the four posted bed at the other side. Poppy, who was still in the corridor, stepped in to understand what the matter was and then, she saw it: Flitwick was lying on that bed. He was unconscious, injured and looking very weak. Beside the bed, there was Severus, who walked towards Minerva with an angry face.

"I told you to wait before bringing her in here," he said glancing at Pomona for a brief moment.

"And what was I supposed to tell her when she asked me about her husband?" Minerva responded, "I don't like lying."

"You seem to do it very well when you lie to me," those were his last words before leaving the room.

...

"Are you alright?" Poppy asked after watching the scene.

"Yes," Minerva sighted, not taking her eyes off the couple on the bed.

"What happened to Filius?" the nurse asked then.

"The Carrows, that's what happened to him," Minerva responded, "I need you to do your best, Poppy," suddenly, she took out a wand from her pocket and handed it to Madame Pomfrey, "I cannot let anything happen to Filius, it would break Pomona's heart."

"Don't worry," the nurse said holding Minerva's hand as a gesture of comfort and then she walked towards the bed.

Minerva watched Poppy say something to Pomona, who gently kissed her husband's forehead before leaving the nurse with him.

...

"This is your fault!" the herbology teacher yelled to Minerva, "he should be home worrying about our children's lives and not here fighting for his own."

"Pomona, let me explain," Minerva tried to interrupt, but her friend was full of rage.

"There's nothing to explain," Pomona interrupted her, "He admires you so much that he'd do anything you'd ask. Why do you always have to play the heroine roll, Minerva?" at that point, Poppy stood up and walked towards them trying to calm down the herbology teacher, but Pomona ignored her completely, "Couldn't we just go home and stop fighting for this damn castle?" she broke into tears, "It's only a pile of stones, for God's sake!" Minerva thought she was done, but then, she kept yelling at her, "but no, you had to stay, and now my husband is lying on a bed because of you."

"Pomona, that's not..." the nurse tried to help, but Sprout made a gesture with her hand to make her understand that whatever she wanted to say, wasn't needed.

"Leave us alone, Minerva," she asked, more calmly.

"Pomona, I'm sorry," Minerva apologized among sobs.

"Leave us alone, I said," Pomona insisted, "go serve your new Headmaster and his Death Eaters, and leave me and my family alone!"

...

Minerva left the room in tears. Not strong enough to cross the corridor, she let her body rest against the cold stone wall as she cried her pain out. Then, suddenly, she was startled by Severus, who approached her with a very serious look on his face. He was still angry, she could tell.

"Are you going to yell at me too?" she sobbed.

"No, I'm not," he whispered, changing his expression after realizing she was crying and pulling her into his embrace.

.

TO BE CONTINUED...


End file.
